Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
A Pack for Pourable Products
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The field of the present invention relates generally to packs
for pourable products, and more particularly to such packs that
consist of an inner container surrounded by a separable supporting
j acke t .
This invention relates to a pack for pourable prod-
ucts, such as liquids or free-flowing fine granules or the
like, which consists of an inner thin-walled blown plastic
container intended to hold the product and of a base- and
cover-free.supporting jacket with an upper supporting edge
which surrounds the blown plastic container and bears
against it in the in-use position of the pack, the blown
plastic container preferably being provided with an upper
bearing shoulder for resting on the supporting edge of the
l0 supporting jacket and comprising a recess. The support-
ing jacket is provided with laps or flaps which are designed to
fold at least locally into the recess and to serve as
fixing elements for the supporting jacket and which form a
carrying handle, detent means being provided for the folded
laps or flaps.
One such pack is known from applicants' D8 39 21 258
A1. In this known pack, the blown plastic container can be
made by blow molding from a blow-moldable plastic so that
the plastic content of the pack can be kept very small.
The pack is made sufficiently stable by the supporting
jacket of paper, cardboard, corrugated paper or a similar
material. The handling properties are
ensured by the recess in the container and the corre-
sponding opening in the supporting jacket. In addition,
optimal support of the plastic container is achieved via
the upper supporting edge of the container on which the
bearing shoulder of the blown plastic container rests in
use. The two parts of the pack (blown plastic container
and supporting jacket) are formed by the laps of the
supporting jacket which are designed to be folded into the
recess and which, folded together, also form the carrying
handle of the pack.
With this known pack, it is readily possible by virtue
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CA 02110821 2000-03-08
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of the design of the laps to join the two parts of the pack
to one another and also to separate them from one another
so that they may be separately recycled. After emptying
the pack, the user may separate the two parts of the pack
from one another and dispose of them separately. In
particular, the outer supporting jacket of the pack may be
disposed of as wastepaper. Although this known pack is
thus very user- and recycling-friendly, it still has
disadvantages. In the known pack, the connection between
the two parts of the pack in its in-use state is still not
entirely safe, as is necessary particularly when the pack
is completely full.
Accordingly, the invention provides a solution in which
the connection between the inner and outer parts of the
pack is improved without any effect on the handling
properties of the pack.
In a pack of the type mentioned above the solution
provided by the invention is characterized in that the
detent means are in the form of cams which are integrally
formed on at least one end of the handle laps of the
supporting jacket, and with which a ramp-like projection
formed on the plastic container is associated in the
pivoting range of the recess.
In other words, the present invention provides a pack
for pourable products such as liquids or free-flowing fine
granules, comprising an inner thin-walled blown plastic
container intended to hold the product, and a base- and
cover-free supporting jacket with an upper supporting edge
surrounding the blown plastic container and bearing against
it in the in-use position of the pack, the blown plastic
container being provided with an upper bearing shoulder for
resting on the supporting edge of the supporting jacket,
and including a recess, the supporting jacket being
provided with flaps configured to fold at least locally
into the recess and to serve as fixing elements for the
supporting jacket, and for forming a carrying handle,
latching means being provided for the folded flaps, the
latching means being in the form of cams which are
CA 02110821 2000-03-08
2a
integrally formed on at least one end of the flaps of the
supporting jacket, and with which a ramp-like projection
formed on the plastic container is associated in the
pivoting range for the flaps within the recess.
This construction maintains the good handling
properties of the pack and, at the same time, provides for
a safe connection between the two parts of the pack, the
blown plastic container and the surrounding supporting
jacket. This is achieved by the combination of the cams on
the handle laps, which form the detent means, and the ramp-
like projection on the plastic container. At the same
time, the presence of the ramp-like projection avoids a
thin zone in the blown plastic container so that the other
wall regions of the container are not unnecessarily
overdimensioned.
In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the
ramp-like projection is in the form of a run-up ramp
adapted to the pivoting range of the associated cam of the
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WO 92/21577 3 PCT/EP92/01179
handle lap. This embodiment further improves the handling
properties of the pack because the ramp-like projection is
adapted substantially to the pivoting movement of the associated
cam of the handle lap so that the cam is guided during the
pivoting movement. At the same time, the handle laps are
able to pivot fully until they are in the fixed position,
thus guaranteeing a safe connection of the two parts of the
pack.
The invention is described in more detail in the
following with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which similar items are identified by like numerals, wherein:
Figure 1 is a side elevational of the pack with the
supporting jacket partly broken away.
Figure 2 shows part of a box blank for the outer
supporting jacket of the pack.
Figure 3 is a detailed view of a handle lap according
to Fig. 2 on a larger scale.
Figure 4 is a section taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1.
Figure 5 is a simplified section taken along the line V-V in
Fig. 4.
In the illustrated example of the invention, the pack globally
denoted by the reference 1 consists of a blown plastic container 2
of substantially square or rectangular cross-section "and a
supporting packet 3 of cardboard or similar material.
At one corner, the blown plastic container 2 is
provided with a recess denoted by the reference 4 which is
shown in chain lines in Fig. 1. Conversely, the supporting
jacket 3 comprises two handle laps 5 in this region, the
corner denoted by the reference 6 being of multilayer
construction so that parts of the punched-out laps denoted
by the reference 7 (Figs 2 and 3) are folded inwards and fixed. The
manner in which they are fixed, which is crucial to the
invention, will be described hereinafter.
In the region of the closure 8, the plastic container
2 has an upper encircling bearing shoulder 9 and_support
surfaces 10 which are hexagonal in shape in the illustrated
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WO 92/215?? 4 PCT/EP92/Oll?9
example. The blown plastic container 2 is also provided
with an upper bearing shoulder 11 which, in the in-use
position, rests on the free edge 12 of the surrounding
supporting jacket 3.
Figure 1 shows two different designs of the base of
the blown plastic container 2: reinforcing ribs 13 at
bottom right and, on the left-hand side of Fig. l, the base
is partly spherical in shape, as denoted by the reference
14. In addition, the lower free edge of the supporting
jacket 3 can be folded inwards, the corresponding laps
being denoted by the references 15 in Fig. 1. The laps
are designed to hold the blown plastic container 2 in
the supporting jacket 3.
The shape of the punched-out handle laps 7 and the
15 associated recess 4 crucial to the invention can best be
seen from Figs. 2 to 5. The handle laps 7 of the support
ing jacket 3 comprise cams denoted by the reference 16
which are integrally formed at both ends. These cams serve
as detent means in conjunction with the special configura
tion of the recess 4. To this end, a ramp-like projection
18 in the form of a run-up ramp is formed in the pivoting
range 17 of the recess 4 for the handle laps 7 with the
cams 16.
As can best be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the projection
18 tapers like a ramp and, at position 19 of the recess 4,
forms a depression for the cams of the folded handle laps
7. This construction has the advantage that the cams l6 of
the handle laps 7 are guided along the ramp-like projection
18 during the pivoting movement and are then easily fixed in
3 0 the depression.
This construction of the detent means (cams 16, ramp-
like projection 18) provides for safe fixing between the
blown plastic container 2 and the supporting jacket 3. At
the same time, however, the two parts of the pack can
easily be separated by withdrawal of the handle laps 7.
The invention is not confined to the embodi-
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WO 92/215?? 5 PCT/E.P92/01179
ments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Further
embodiments of the invention are possible without departing
from the basic concept. Thus, the supporting jacket 3 may,
if necessary, be of muhtilayer construction, etc.
Also, other modifications to the illustrated embodiments of the
invention may be recognized by those of skill in the art, which
modifications are meant to be covered by the spirit and scope of the
appended claims.
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